Meet the experts: How to combat fixing

At Play the Game 2013 conference in Aarhus, match-fixing was one of the major themes and a long list of world renowned experts from Interpol, Europol, the European Council and more presented the latest approaches to combatting this threat to sport.

Find a selection of articles and presentations below:

Match-fixer: I did it to survive

Former professional footballer Mario Čižmek talks about his personal encounter with match-fixing.

Read more here

Declan Hill

Canadian match-fixing exposer Declan Hill is one of the main experts in the area and the author of two books. He also runs a blog with regular updates on the current discussion about illegal betting and match manipulation.

At Play the Game 2013, he detailed a global match-fixing network allegedly controlled by Dan Tan, an Asian businessman who was arrested by Singapore police in September 2013.

Read more here

Watch Declan Hill's conference presentation here

New international convention

A new international convention designed to combat fixing and manipulation in sport is ready to be signed by Ministers from around 50 countries in September 2014. The convention was presented by Harri Syväsalmi, the Chairman of the Council of Europe’s Expert Group on Match Fixing at Play the Game 2013.

The convention will involve the formation of national platforms designed to address the issue and national contact points bringing together all those with an interest in preventing match-fixing.

Read more about the convention here

Other relevant 2013 conference material about match-fixing:

On tackling match-fixing and illegal betting
The approach to illegal betting at the London 2012 Olympics including embracing reports from the media should be an exemplar for future Olympiads, argued British sports lawyer Kevin Carpenter at Play the Game 2013. More

Match-fixing: Small risks, enormous rewards
Football matches are fixed on a regular basis by criminals, an EU law enforcement official told Play the Game this morning, because for them it makes economic sense. While the rewards are often great for the fixers, Nick Garlick, a Senior Specialist at Europol’s Organised Crime Networks, said that a broad network of agents and middle men help shield them from the law. More

Target fixers ahead of players, investigator says
Match-fixing is the "most serious threat to sport as we know it today," former Interpol match-fixing investigator Chris Eaton told the Play the Game conference. More

Find more conference material, presentations, video, audio and photos from Play the Game 2013 at the conference website: www.playthegame.org/2013

More about match-fixing from previous Play the Game conferences

Play the Game 2011, German University Cologne:

Article:
Warning: “Anyone Can Fix”
Match fixing is going through the same transition as popular music sales went through in the 1990s when it went online, author Declan Hill told delegates at the 2011 Play the Game conference. Asian sport is already much destroyed, he claimed, and if allowed to continue unabated, match fixing “will destroy modern sport” across the world. More

Presentations:
The extension of match fixing in German soccer - Werner Pitsch

The path towards greater sports integrity - André Noël Chaker

Video: Watch a video from the session

Presentations:
Curious case of draws at the ITF Grand Slam tournaments (2008-2011) Katarina Pijetlovic  

Online gambling and sports integrity in Europe - Khalid Ali

From Corruption to Triumph: Exposing the Corruption and Cover-Up in the Jason Lezak case - Steven V. Selthoffer

Video: Watch a video from the session

Play the Game 2009, Coventry University, UK

Match fixing: coming to a stadium near you
The rumours are no longer rumours. They are facts. This was the message delivered by Declan Hill, one of the world’s leading experts on soccer match fixing. Speaking on the first day of the Play the Game conference, Hill gave a detailed account of his experiences investigating bribery and corruption in soccer over the past ten years. More

Declan Hill' presentation on video: Match fixers: They are here. What are we going to do now?

A level playing field? Don’t bet on it
The old adage that it “takes a crook to catch a crook” became a reality when a former New York crime chief provided a fascinating insight into how match fixing takes place in the USA. More

Watch the session on video: Match-fixing: A blow to the core of sport
Part 1 and part 2

Play the Game 2007, UMFI, Iceland

Massive match fixing in Indian cricket, Play the Game Magazine 2007